Patrick Kompf serves a niche market you may not have known existed

Attention all squirrels in the state of Vermont: gather up those nuts before Patrick Kompf gets them. The Winooski man is an acorn-picker with an official-sounding gadget to match. "Here's my acorn picker-upper," he said, placing a device with dozens of rubber fingers that roll over the ground to spin acorns into a mesh drum.

The former delivery truck driver collects nuts by the bushel load in communities around Burlington each fall, selling them online for a few dollars a pound depending on the variety. New England Cable News asked Kompf how many times he hears jokes about whether or not he's "nuts" for wanting to start this business. "I am pretty nutty," he chuckled. "But that's part of the business of selling acorns!"

Kompf launched his unusual retail operation, called Acorno, four years ago. He told NECN his college marketing classes helped him hone in on customers nationwide, and that on a good day, he'll get 75 orders. Buyers use the acorns for planting, decorating, animal feed, wedding gifts, and more, Kompf said. "I have crafters; people who do crafts with acorns," he added.

Gary Grai said he gives the acorns he buys to the squirrels and blue jays who visit his Burlington condo's balcony. "I'm a very happy customer," Grai beamed. "I can sit here for hours and watch them."

Grai told NECN he buys around 45 pounds of nuts each month. "They'd go through 45 pounds in a day if you put them all out at once," Grai said of the squirrels and jays. "By the end of the day, [the acorns] would all be gone!"

Asked if Acorno is earning him enough to live, Kompf answered, "I'm at this full-time; I'm making enough money, yeah."

Kompf estimated he'll sell about 20 tons of acorns this year. Acorno is one of only a handful of companies doing this in the whole country, Kompf said. To keep up with demand, he pointed out he has a whole network of assistants who help with collecting and shipping. "Dealing with nuts on a daily basis, you eventually become one," Kompf laughed.

Money may not grow on trees, but this creative businessman has found a way to pick it off the ground. Click here to visit the company's website: www.acorno.com.